Drop-keel.



No. 781,924. PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. G. B. WAINEWRIGHT.

DROP KEEL.

APPLICATION r1112. 15, 1904.

f ATTORNEY UNITED STATES Patented February '7, 1905.

PATENT @FFICE.

DROP-KEEL- :PECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 781,924, dated February 7, 1905. Application filed February 15, 1904. Serial No. 193,682.

To all u'hnm/ it may concern.-

Be it known that l, CLAUDE B. \VAINE- WRIGHT, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Drop-l{eels, of which the following is a specification.

.\l v invention relates to an improved dropkeel for sail yachts or boats that will when lowered for use expose a lateral area largerthan that of its casing in the hull of the boat. The outline of the keel when lowered is also such as is considered most favorable to the convenient handling of a sail-boat.

The particular design and construction of my invention is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being made to the drawings which accompany it.

Figure l is a side elevation of the keel when lowered; Fig. 2, a cross-section on the line A in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the keel when drawn up within its casing in the hull of a boat, and Fig. 4 a cross-section on the line B B in Fig. 1.

la the drawings, 2 represents the casing or well in the hull of the boat, within which the keel may be withdrawn when not in use, and 3 and a are the members of the keel itself, each part being designed to occupy as fully as possible the available space of the casing. The important features of the invention are the conformation of the two members 3 and l, their slidable relation one to the other, and the manner of their mutual connection and of their suspension within the casing. The member 3, which is the one toward the bow of the boat, at the forward end of the full depth of the casing, and the length of it along the lower part is only slightly less than that of the casing, the ends of which are tapered outward, so as to give a greater length at the bottom than at the top. The member 3 is made of double thickness with an inter-space 5, within which the member 4 is slidably free to enter, the two thicknesses of 3 being joined along the lower edge 6, which edge is upwardly curved at each end somewhat as drawn. The members 3 and 4: are pivotally connected together at the top by a pin 7 at a position which is half their length from the forward and the after end of each, and at the extreme forward and after top corner each is suspended by a link 8 on a pin 9, which when the keel is drawn up within the casing will lie along the top edges. These links 8 are piv otally secured to the casing by the pins 10, which are placed as close as practicable to the middle, so as to leave cl arance between for the connecting-pin 7 of the keel members 3 and 4 and for the chain, line, or rod 11. by which the keel is raised and lowered.

Fig. I shows the position of the keel members 3 and a and their suspension-links 8 when the keel is lowered. The combined sectorlike portions 12 of 3 and 4 within the casing approximately fill it endwise, and the thickness of that portion of a being reinforced (see Fig. 4:) they also closely lit the casing laterally, so that the possibility of side shake is reduced to a minimum. This reinforcement of the portion 12 of a also enables its suspension-link 8 to be connected between the two thicknesses and when the keel is drawn up within the casing to lie along between the two in the same manner as that of the member 3. The outer edges 13 of these sectorlike portions 12 of 3 and 4: are so shaped that they will roll up and down the ends of the easing without any excess of end movement. At the line of the under side of the casing 2 when the keel is lowered the outline of both 3 and i runs out to the full-length dimension, the line 1% being somewhat of an involutc curve, as drawn, to afford freedom of movement over the lower end corners of thecasing when being raised or lowered. These portions l-t project endwise beyond the length of the easing when the keel is lowered, but are drawn up within as the sections 3 and i roll up the casing ends on the keel being raised. As the portion of 4: which is below the casing when the keel is lowered is required to rotate on the connecting-pin 7, its outline is struck from 7 as a center, and this member 4 is permitted to have an ample lap within 3 when lowered that the members may afford mutual support.

The advantages which this invention offers over a drop-keel of ordinary construction are that it has an area in excess of the dimension of the casing within which it is drawn when not required, that its contour is favorable to sailing-boats in that it has considerable depth toward its center, and that it is laterally rigid. There are also several minor incidental advantages which will be apparent to practical yachtsmen and boatbuilders, but which need not be enlarged upon in this connection.

Having now particularly described my invention,and the manner of its construction and operation,I declare that what I claim as new, and desire to be protected in by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a drop-keel; the combination with a suitable casing within the hull of a boat, of a pair of slidably-related pivotally-connected sections, link members pivotally secured to the outer ends of said sections and pivotally secured to the casing and spaced apart at such casing pivot ends, said sections being pivotally connected with each other and means secured to said sections at the last-named pivot extending up through the casing between the link members for lowering and raising the sections for the purposes specified.

2-. In a drop-keel; the combination with a casing within which the keel may be housed when not in use, of a forward keel-section constructed of two thicknesses connected along the lower edge so as to leave aspace between the two thicknesses, an after section pivotally connected toward its middle upper edge to a similar position of the aforementioned forward section so that the after section shall be slidable within the forward section, links suspending the extreme forward end of the forward section and the extreme after end of the after section to the casing toward the middle of its length, and means for raising and lowering the connected sections within the casing.

3. In a drop-keel having pivotally-connected and slidably-related forward and after sections suspended within a housing-casing in the hull of aboat; acontour to the upper portion of the forward end of the forward section and to the same portion of the after end of the afi l l i l i l ter section, an outer extension of the sections below this contour to the extreme end of each section, an outline to the after section that will permit it to pivotally slide within the double thickness of the forward section, and the reinforcement of a portion of the after section within the casing to the thickness of the forward section.

4. In a drop-keel the combination with the casing 2, of the forward section 3, and after section 4, pivotally connected by the pin 7, the links 8 suspending the sections by the pins 9, to the pins 10 in the casing, and means for raising and lowering the same, all substantially as described.

5. In a drop-keel; a casing secured to the boat-hull, a pair of sections pivotally secured to each other at their upper edges said upper edges of the sections being grooved, link members pivotally secured to the upper edges of the sections and to the casing, means for drawing said sections up into said casing to be entirely inclosed there by for the purposes specified.

6. In a drop-keel; a casing secured to the boat-hull, a pair of sections pivotally secured to each other at their upper edge, said upper edges of the sections being grooved, link members pivotally secured to the outer edges of the sections and to the casing, means for drawing said sections up into said casing to be entirely inclosed thereby, said means including a flexible connection with the sections at the pivot-point where they are joined and extending through an aperture in the casing-top, 

